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low or high hours on tractor

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Just curious, what is the most hours you have put on your tractor before it needed a rebuild?
what is the least hours put on your tractor before it needed a rebuild?

A guy I know bought a new john deere 3020 diesel way back when and within the first year he had it something went wrong with the engine (I forget what went wrong with it or how many hours/couldn't have been many hours) but the deere mechanic rebuilt the engine at the farm and it now has 18,000 hours on it with nothing else done to it. The farmer was the only operator all these years.
 

At 18,000 hours and still running good I would say that tractor has seen only very mild use. Most tractors of that vintage, of ANY brand, under normal use, benefited greatly from a rebuild at around 6,000 hours. I'm betting that 3020, even though it might not be burning oil at this point, is still way down on horsepower.
 
when I worked for a P.M.U. farm he had a 4430 Jd had 11000 hours when it went in for a bottom end rebuild.This tractor was used for all the feild work hay cutting pulling 6601(I think ) combine and manure spreading.It was all hired hand opperated.And I know one of them that if I would of let him drive it more than a day or two we would have had to do the clutch.This tractor I think was an exeption to the rule cause most would have had a rebuild before 10000.This guy was very perticular about oil changes rad flushes to keep it as cool as possible.I think that helped this tractor make it to where it got.Was back there 2 years ago and he still has it just doesn't get used much anymore as the P.M.U. folded.He now has a 4 wheel drive and self propeled combine and makes no hay, has no cattle.I haven't worked for him for 8 years.
 
4430 had over 11,000 hours when I sold it last year, new crank bearings at 8xxx hours. 4450 and 4240 are each at 9000 hours, no internal engine work. 4430 used a pint of oil in 100 hours, for the 29 years I had it. Others use none. Nothing easy about any of those hours, on a 450-700 acre dairy, hog, crop farm.
 
Nieghbors 7060Ac had 16000 hours on it when he traded it for a New Holland. This was his main tractor for field work.
 
Best I've got is a Ford 7600 with 14213 hours on it as of today. Worst Case David Brown 1290 that had an oil leak and the guy who borrowed it ran it a week hard and never pulled the dipstick. Spun the mains with 1800 hours. Other than that, worst was a Ford 7610 with a hole behind a ring at 3700.
 
Some big Case IHs are reportedly running in some of the old Soviet bloc countries that have over 40,000 hours on them.
 
2 4960 John Deeres,one with 18,500 hrs and the other with 17,250, new bearings rolled in at 10,000 hrs,valve adjustments and routine maintenance,both still going strong with original powershift transmissions used for tillage work.
 
Buddy of mine has a 4440 his father in law bought new. He was working on something simple like putting a new valve cover gasket on it or something like that and twisted two bolts off. Tried to get them out for a few days with no luck, ended up buy'n a rebuilt engine for it cause it was just starting to get a little weak at 14,500 hours. While the old engine was get'n a litte weak as he put it, the new one had to be turned up a good bit to do the same work.
 
We had a 700 Case with over 11,000 hours before it needed complete overhaul. She was getting pretty weak and using oil though. Probably should have done it 2000 hours earlier. Worked for a neighbor back in the 70's and dropped a valve on the brand new 4430 on the first day out in the field. Maybe 10 or 12 hours.
 
6000 hours is low for most diesel engines to need a rebuild or be down on power. Around 10,000 would be more the norm. I know of a Case 2096 with the 5.9 Cummins that has over 16,000 hours on the original engine. It is used for everything but a lot of the hours are from feeding round bales. Dave
 
My 706(310german)turbo is stillstrong (95 hp) and still uses no oil.my buddy has a 1256 with 18000 hrs.
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I had rather have the same make model tractor used by a good farmer for full days field work with twicwe as many hours than to have one used on weekends for utility/loader work. the life is largely determined by the operator. Quality of maintenance second. My renterhas a smallish (60-80 hp) John Deere diesel made in Germany that has over 16,000 hours and has had 5 sets of tires. No engine work but this tractor does fulol days work planting, spraying, haying and feed grinding. He and sons are excellent operators alsowatch oil changes and air cleaners. Tractor has a lot of bright spots on just about everything he has touched.
 
Im the second owner of a 67 4020 that now has 11000 and never had anything major done. She is gettin weak tho prolly lookin to get a reman for it next year. I really think if you take care of and dont abuse it and do regular maintanince they will last a long time.
 
Well I'm hopeful of putting a lot more hours on my Ford. It had 4,100 when I got it but they were mainly highway hours. That is to say it was owned by a custom operator who worked probably a 40 mile radius.
 
That pretty well reinforced rusty's point I think... A 115 hp tractor with a severly detuned engine spent it's life doing the work of a 50 hp tractor. Little wonder it's not worn out....
Put it on a 20 foot disc for those 16K hours and it would have had at least one major and probably due for a second one.

Rod
 
Diesel engines are made to work. Putzing around with them can be harder on them than working them. That's not saying to abuse them but to use them for what they were intended. 10,000 hours is a good general life expectancy for a well maintained diesel. Some big diesels can go 50,000 hours before rebuild. They had one at the shop that did my Cat engine. It was a huge Cat engine used for an oilfield generator and cost $100,000 to rebuild. I think it was 12 cylinders but might have only been 8. It was mounted on a big skid. Dave
 
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